CEO Corner

CEO Corner articles are written by presidents or CEOs of biopharmaceutical or medical device companies that create a drug or device. These articles discuss global industry trends, experiences, and challenges that biopharma CEOs and presidents can relate to and should be aware of.

Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and CEO of Cidara Therapeutics, discusses what needs to be done now by drug companies and healthcare providers alike to stem the tide of emerging antimicrobial resistance, including collaboration to address market barriers.

I’ve often described the challenge of developing new medicines as analogous to the difficulty of climbing the highest mountains on Earth. If one follows that analogy, then seeking to develop a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is like climbing K2, the second highest peak — in winter. That feat has not yet been accomplished, and those who aspire to do so describe it as their last frontier. Similarly, the brain is one of the last frontiers in medicine and drug development.

By its very definition, innovation may travel long and painful paths, require repeated failure, and invite numerous mistakes to gather experience for bringing forward something new. Lady luck also intervenes occasionally, as well.

Antibiotic resistance is a real and immediate threat that is beginning to garner the global attention it needs and deserves. During a meeting of the United Nations in September 2016, the entire General Assembly — 193 nations — reaffirmed its commitment to developing national action plans on combatting antibiotic resistance.

There is a lyric from an old Bob Seger song in which the aging songwriter, lamenting the loss of his youthful prowess once filled with vim and vigor, wonders where the time went (“20 years now; where’d they go; 20 years; I don’t know”).

Why hasn't the healthcare industry evolved into vertical segmentation like other industries? Until now, it's because there has been no systematic way to hedge/transfer either institutional or operating risk in the healthcare system because information gathering and delivery is generally limited and poorly organized.

As I consider the move from clinical to commercialization, it reminds me of the American electoral system – primary elections that are tightly focused and a general election where a candidate faces a vastly broader audience and has the opportunity to engage on a much larger stage and with far greater impact.